GPA Killer?

<p>Spanish 6, I finished so close to an A that one point on any assignment, test, essay, etc. would have brought me to a 4.0 uw</p>

<p>^^ I love being on the flipside of that. Where I put in just barely enough effort to get a 90.01%. Then I get to laugh at my friend who worked hard and got a 96%…an A is an A.</p>

<p>Yeah, I’m guessing the person was referring to pre-calc algebra. Many of my friends have had to take it in college who are very bright students, but either didn’t do well on the placement exam or weren’t great at math. One of these friends has done well in chemistry, zoology, and botany, but just had to take the class. Another is an English major who is an excellent writer but not good at math. That certainly doesn’t make them unqualified for college. Quite the contrary.</p>

<p>Back to the subject, that class for me was calc 2. I got a B- and just barely. I think I had the exact score I needed on the final to get the B-, and any lower it would’ve been a C+. Calc based physics probably would’ve been worse but I withdrew from it. That was the semester I realized that I didn’t want to be an engineer after all. :P</p>

<p>^^ I’d love to argue to remove calc ii as a required class for engineers. I’ve never used it since I took it.</p>

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<p>The reason I chose to accept BC credit for it… It’s a notorious weedout class</p>

<p>I’ve never seen the point of series and sequences, especially when you can’t determine what the series converges to 99% of the time.</p>

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<p>I hate to be an ass, but there’s no reason for anyone to get anything but an A/B in college algebra. You professor didn’t fail you, you failed yourself.</p>

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<p>I just took it the summer after I graduated HS. Pains in the ass are much better when they only last 1 month.</p>

<p>Engineeribg needs weed out courses. Better people fail now than when they are actually taking engineering courses and wasting the prof time. If you can’t at least pass Calc 2 you have no excuse. Hell, everyone (engineers ) should get a B I would think. </p>

<p>I also love the excuses right after someone posts the course they did poorly in. Yes we all have bad teachers at some point but there is a lot you can do on your own to make up for that.</p>

<p>And to continue my late night D bag rant…</p>

<p>…in response to a post above. Some of us took Algebra in 7th grade :)</p>

<p>But of course the poster was talking about pre calc (I hope). And not everyone should know that before college. I mean, I’d hope anyone in STEM is past that, economics too. But LAs degrees… eh… it to ally doesn’t matter.</p>

<p>I mean, if some chick is going to rant about “patriarchy” in her Womens Studies class does it really matter if she knows how to take the derivative?</p>

<p>Uhh, last time I checked, math had nothing to do with how well or how bad someone spelled.
Some people just aren’t math people, like me. It’s no big deal.</p>

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<p>haha you are an idiot. you study EE, right? electrical engineering (and other sciences) are all about the linear approximation. this is taylors theorem, son. calculus II. one gigantic application of taylors theorem in electrical engineering: small signal circuit analysis, the basis for most analog circuit design.</p>

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<p>this is rich coming from the guy who doesn’t understand why taylors theorem is so important</p>

<p>I’ve taken pre-calc algebra and trigonometry (took trig in HS but it was called something different) in college because my high school didn’t have a similar course. I also took other algebra classes because my counselors placed me in the wrong class despite my high school transcript, grades and ACT score. It wasn’t until I took two semesters of ****ing algebra before anyone would tell me to contact the head of the math department because I had no business in those classes. (The website was out of date by about 4 years so I couldn’t get in contact with them on my own and my professors were part time and didn’t know.)</p>

<p>By the time I finally was allowed to retake the placement test as the head saw a huge discrepancy in my first placement attempt and my grades, it was too late to register for a higher level class so I had to take a third semester of **** I learned years prior. The campus I went to for CC was terrible but that doesn’t mean I’m not fit for college. </p>

<p>There can be a crap load of reasons for people taking algebra, pre-calc or remedial, and only a judgmental prick goes on the internet to blast people about it or brag about how they’re somehow superior to that person.</p>

<p>That sucks, but it sounds like you should have been more proactive in your scheduling.</p>

<p>It was my first semester in college and when I asked about it at orientation, the counselors looked appalled that I’d even dare to ask such a question. It is practically impossible to get the same answer more than once because you never have the same counselor. I didn’t know there was anything I could have done until it was too late to do anything. Had I went somewhere else I would’ve been placed directly into calc but I was happy to be able to afford college, I sucked it up. But I will badmouth the advising office until my dying day because their main goal is to improve their 20% graduation rate. Damn anything else.</p>

<p>Business Statistics. Will probably bring my GPA down to maybe a 3.3 (hopefully not). The professor cannot teach wroth crap and the amount of effort you put into the class doesn’t reflect in your grades.</p>

<p>The tests are nothing like the textbook problems and he throws formulas in which aren’t even on the formula sheet.</p>

<p>■■■!</p>

<p>calculus based E&M…my only B thus far. I blame myself mostly, but also the way the course was taught. We learned how to calculate complicated **** that I’ll likely never need to know but somehow skipped over the applicable basics.</p>

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<p>What basics did you skip over?</p>

<p>lol no, not everyone is good at math. Hell we covered things i never covered in triginometry. I wasn’t the only one who didn’t do good in that class, most of it failed.</p>

<p>I expect my GPA killer to be my French class. I was just reading the syllabus and it makes me sick to think about.</p>

<p>Hopefully I can make it through though.</p>

<p>honors general chemistry, first semester: C+</p>

<p>Introduction to Political Theory, Spring 2011</p>

<p>It sounds like quite a “do-able” course, but it was definitely not a walk in the park this past spring. I earned a B, but I truly wish I could’ve achieved an A. The course started out with reading Plato’s “Apology” and “The Republic,” in roughly three weeks, so it definitely weeded out those who wouldn’t be able to handle the workload. The exams were maddening! My professor encouraged individual interpretation of the texts we read in discussion, but shunned it when it came to writing papers or answering exam questions. His exam grading was very contradictory at times. I put in so much time into reading and studying for this particular course. </p>

<p>On the other hand, we did read thousands of pages throughout the semester following Plato’s texts, including Machiavelli’s “The Prince,” John Stuart Mill’s “On Liberty,” John Locke’s “Second Treatise,” Marx’s “Communist Manifesto,” and I presented an additional required assignment after selecting and reading Simone De Beauvoir’s “Second Sex.” It was definitely a course in which I worked insanely hard just to earn a B. I’m of course proud that I took the course, because by the time the semester ended, I walked away with an even richer sense of discipline and stamina. </p>

<p>(For those who haven’t read Plato’s “Republic,” read it before you finish your undergraduate career, especially if you’re in the humanities or in the social sciences. It’s a tough read, but it’s an incredible book and it will build a good amount of both patience and discipline.)</p>